§261 Ownership; assignment

Summary

Patents are treated like personal property. The Patent and Trademark Office must keep a record of who has rights in patents and patent applications. The PTO will record documents about those rights if asked and may charge a fee. A patent application, a patent, or any part of the rights in them must be transferred in writing. The applicant, patent owner, or their representatives can give exclusive rights for all or part of the United States. A signed, sealed certificate from a U.S. official, a U.S. diplomat or consul abroad, or a valid foreign apostille is taken as initial proof that a transfer was signed. A transfer is not effective against a later buyer or lender who paid for the patent and did not know about the transfer unless the transfer is recorded at the PTO within three months of its date or before that later buyer or lender bought or mortgaged.